Image from Low Income Housing Institute
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Tiny HousingAn affordable, low-cost way to be able to house large numbers of the homeless population would be to set up small shelters that are cheap to produce, but work as efficient housing.
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Organizations Building Tiny Houses
Pallet company logo
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- One company whose primary goal is to shelter the homeless population is Pallet, a company headquartered in Everett, WA.
- The company constructs temporary homes whose sizes range from 64 to 100 square feet of space and simply contain up to four bunk beds and shelves to store personal belongings. - The shelters take about half an hour to construct per shelter. - Responsible for replacing tents for COVID-19 emergency shelters with their tiny houses in places like Portland, OR. - Each shelter is built out of easy to clean materials with a 10+ year lifespan and are equipped with heating, electricity, and a lockable door. - An individual unit starts at about $4,900 and can go up to around $7,000 per shelter, housing anywhere from two to four people. - On top of housing homeless people, the company employs individuals exiting the justice system, those recovering from addiction, and people transitioning out of homelessness themselves. - Link to company website: www.palletshelter.com |
- Another group interested in building tiny homes to shelter those experiencing homelessness is the Low Income Housing Institute, another group headquartered in Washington State, but in Seattle instead of Everett.
- The facilities provided in each of the tiny homes constructed are largely the same as Pallet's, but unlike Pallet's houses, those constructed by LIHI contain heaters inside and are made of wood instead of plastic. - Tiny homes are not the sole focus of LIHI unlike Pallet, as they repurpose apartment buildings and houses to be shelters. - In direct partnership with several cities in Washington, including Seattle, Tacoma, and Olympia, as well as faith-based organization the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepard. - Executive director of the program Sharon Lee has written an article that goes into estimates as to the needs of sustaining a village of tiny homes. - Among the inclusions she has listed, the first is landmass, which she estimates that any given tiny home village needs between 6,000 to 30,000 square feet of vacant land depending on the size and services provided. |
- The second thing she listed is time of construction needed. Because of the native coordination with the city, it can take anywhere from four to six months to build a tiny village as city departments involved in water, sewer, and electricity are involved to bring proper connections to a village of 14 to 35 homes.
- Lastly, she lists the estimated budget to build a village at anywhere from $100,000 to $500,000 with the biggest variation coming from connections provided by city services, and then states the estimated annual budget to maintaining the village at $60,000 to $500,000 which depends on staff and services provides on site. A model that does keep costs down is partnerships made with homeless resident organizations to operate self-managed villages.
- Link to the article written by Sharon Lee: shelterforce.org/2019/03/15/tiny-house-villages-in-seattle-an-efficient-response-to-our-homelessness-crisis/
- Link to the website for the Low Income Housing Institute: lihi.org
- Lastly, she lists the estimated budget to build a village at anywhere from $100,000 to $500,000 with the biggest variation coming from connections provided by city services, and then states the estimated annual budget to maintaining the village at $60,000 to $500,000 which depends on staff and services provides on site. A model that does keep costs down is partnerships made with homeless resident organizations to operate self-managed villages.
- Link to the article written by Sharon Lee: shelterforce.org/2019/03/15/tiny-house-villages-in-seattle-an-efficient-response-to-our-homelessness-crisis/
- Link to the website for the Low Income Housing Institute: lihi.org
More Information on Tiny Houses
- Under their series of pages concerning homelessness response, the city of Seattle has one dedicated to a list of city approved villages with tiny housing. They give information such as location and contact information for the villages for ease of finding them. The specific page to find that information and more is: www.seattle.gov/homelessness/city-permitted-villages
- An article by Oregon Live from February 21st, 2021 details how over 2,000 people without homes remain unsheltered in Portland and the challenges that can be associated with sheltering those people. A link to the full article: www.oregonlive.com/news/2021/02/have-an-idea-for-a-creative-emergency-shelter-in-portland-local-government-wants-to-hear-your-pitch.html
- An article by Oregon Live from February 21st, 2021 details how over 2,000 people without homes remain unsheltered in Portland and the challenges that can be associated with sheltering those people. A link to the full article: www.oregonlive.com/news/2021/02/have-an-idea-for-a-creative-emergency-shelter-in-portland-local-government-wants-to-hear-your-pitch.html